Oran "Hot Lips" Page

Hot Lips Page
Hot Lips Page, c. June 1946 Photo: William P. Gottlieb
Background information
Birth name	Oran Thaddeus Page
Also known as	Hot Lips Page, Lips Page
Born	(1908-01-27)January 27, 1908 Dallas, Texas, United States
Died	November 5, 1954(1954-11-05) (aged 46) New York, United States
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Trumpeter, singer, bandleader
Instruments	Trumpet, vocals
Associated acts	Bennie Moten, Walter Page

Oran Thaddeus Page (January 27, 1908 – November 5, 1954) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader born in Dallas, Texas, United States. He was better known as Hot Lips Page by the public, and Lips Page by his fellow musicians. He was known as a scorching soloist and powerful vocalist.

Page was a member of Walter Page's Blue Devils, Artie Shaw's Orchestra and Count Basie's Orchestra, and he worked with Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Ida Cox.

In his early years, Page, who moved to Corsicana, Texas in his early teens, traveled across the Southwestern United States and toured as far east as Atlanta and as far north as New York City. He played in circuses and minstrel shows and backing such blues singers as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Ida Cox. Page's main trumpet influence was Louis Armstrong, though throughout his career he cited other local trumpeters, including Harry Smith (Kansas City) and Benno Kennedy (San Antonio) as being early influences.

In the mid-1920s, while still a teenager, he is believed to have appeared with Troy Floyd and His Orchestra in San Antonio, Texas and with Eddie and Sugar Lou, a dance band headquartered in Tyler, Texas, though no documentation has been unearthed to support his presence in either band. He also claimed to have appeared around 1925 with a band in Shreveport, Louisiana known as Goog and His Jazz Babies and with a band in New Orleans known as French's Jazz Orchestra, though no documentation has been discovered.

In 1926, he caught the eye of the bassist Walter Page (no relation) who had recently assumed leadership of the Oklahoma City Blue Devils. It is believed that Oran Page joined the Blue Devils circa 1927, though no known documentation exists to support his presence with the band until the fall of 1928. He played and toured with the Blue Devils until the spring of 1931, when he joined the Bennie Moten Orchestra, the leading dance band of Kansas City.